Turn away
If you could get me a drink
Of water cause my lips are chapped and fadedCall my Aunt Marie
Help her gather all my things
And bury me
In all my favorite colors,My sisters and my brothers, still,
I will not kiss you,Cause the hardest part of this,
Is leaving you.

Now turn away,
Cause I'm awful just to see
Cause all my hair's abandoned all my body,
All my agony,Know that I will never marry,
Baby, I'm just soggy from the chemo,But counting down the days to go.
It just ain't livingAnd I just hope you know,

That if you say, (If you say)
Good-bye today, (Good-bye today)
I'd ask you to be true (I'd ask you to be true)
Cause the hardest part of this,
Is leaving you...

Cause the hardest part of this,
Is leaving you...

Lyrics taken from http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/m/my_chemical_romance/cancer.html

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Most people that have written about the meaning behind this song have taken it literally; because it must be a guy with cancer talking to his lover, right? I actually disagree.
I believe "Cancer" is actually metaphorical; symbolism, in a way, as in cancer is a representation of an illness he has. The vocalist is singing about something that is killing him; for sake of this point I'm going to say it was depression. This man is fighting his demons, and as the song depicts, is giving up on himself. He starts by saying "Turn away". Like most patients, people with mental illnesses often are ashamed of themselves. He's saying 'turn away' as in please, don't look at me, I'm broken. He continues; after talking about his death and what he wishes to happen, he sings "My sisters and my brothers, still, I will not kiss you. 'Coz the hardest part of this is leaving you." This is where the song takes a darker turn. He is officially giving up on himself (on the verge of suicide) as things have gotten too hard, and he doesn't want to 'kiss' them because he is not only ashamed but is done, and "the hardest part of this is leaving" them, his friends and family. "Now turn away, coz I'm awful just to see." Again, he is saying don't look at me, I'm broken, awful even to see. "Oh, my agony." He is tormented by his demons and is in agony, and combined with the previous lines he is almost saying don't look at me, I'm in pain, don't look at my agony. "Know that I will never marry." He's dying young, and this represents that. "Baby, I'm just soggy from the chemo." He's drained from all of his therapy and all of the help and he's DONE. "But counting down the days to go." He's getting help - "chemo" - BUT still counting down the days to go. It's not helping him and he's ready for death, just counting down the days. "It just ain't living." This is his reasoning, his explanation, as to why he's killing himself. Because it just isn't living. "And I just hope you know that if you say, goodbye today, I'd ask you to be true." He's saying this to his friends and family; that if they're going to say their final goodbyes, they need to be true. As in, not mope about him going and honestly say goodbye. He needs them to accept it and let him die, because the hardest part is leaving them.

I'm not going to quote the song or agree with someone like halfthe people on this website. I'm not going to say that this song is about cancer either because that's what everyone else would talk about. This song to me isn't about cancer. This song is about saying goodbye and leaving everything behind. Its about knowing things will never be the same but going with it because there is nothing else you can do about it.

It so hard to let go of someone which you love most, but its really hard to let go of someone which both of you love each other and knowing that the reason for leaving is not just simple as leaving you temporarily but leaving you totally.
You will get hurt seeing your loveone is sufferring from sickness that you know there is no treatment. The only thing you need to do is to spend your life and the most of the moment, never wasting any single minute or second while he is existing until grasping breath while still holding with your arms and seeing him dying.
You see in his eyes that he is fighting against sickness because of his love and wanting to have a chance to live, bringing back all the good memories with you.

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UnregisteredApr 26, 2012 at 7:13 pm

This is a really emotional song (shut up people calling me emo for loving mcr, jeez) about. Well, dying of cancer. It's a message (from patient, you will understand if you know the album/band well) saying to his loved ones that although his death of the illness is painful, the hardest part is leaving them behind. It's about not wanting to leave all the things you love, and telling people you what you want to world to be like once you're gone. My nana has cancer, wish her luck, and my best friend's sister also does. Brilliant song that gets me all teared up!

"Cancer" depicts the most emotional point in the Patient's story. Here the Patient is tired and bedridden from the cancer that is surely killing him. He is starting to come to terms with the fact that he will die, and begins to make arrangements and requests for his inevitable death, ("Call my aunt Marie, help her gather all my things, and bury me in all my favorite colors"). As he is doing so, he realizes that there is still something he just can't quite accept, and that is having to part with the one who loves him the most, his lover ("The hardest part of this is leaving you"). He tells his lover that he will not kiss her, possibly because he wants to sever his connection with her as much as possible to make it easier for him to cope with having to leave her. Also he may be regretful of being spiteful to her like he was in "I Don't Love You", and may feel that he does not deserve her forgiveness, which is a point that is touched on more in "Sleep". He goes on to somewhat apologize for his erratic behavior, saying he's just "soggy from the chemo". Finally he asks her that even if she were to leave him at this moment, he requests just one thing of her, that she'll never marry. ("And if you'd say goodbye today, I'd ask you to be true"). "Cancer" shows that the Patient still has the potential to go to heaven, and that he isn't all bad. This foreshadows his eventual change of attitude in "Famous Last Words".

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